R & G Gets Set

We've completed tech for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and are ready to put it all together. The weekend spent on technical matters was, while not really fun (are they ever?), pretty painless. The house is under a hundred seats, and in such a black box, scene changes amount to the rearranging of boxes and the hanging of ropes and stuff. The real technical challenges are with the sound and lights, which seemed to be solidly on the right track for our show.










I was surprised to have experienced a first this weekend. Several infants attended our technical rehearsals. This startled me, I suppose, because I am used to more formal techs, with hard-ass directors demanding the impossible from harried designers, and tension reigning supreme. Instead, several new parents in the company brought along the tikes, who were cared for by anyone who was around when needed. (I wonder what Michael Kahn of The Shakespeare Theatre Co. would have said about that, if such a thing ever happened during his nightmare Techs From Hell). But it reminded me of a couple of things. NCStage is populated with young adults early in their careers and just starting their families; the folks involved are eager to make their theatre a welcome place to work and live. It's all very warm and familial (I'm the only newcomer in the bunch), and I have not heard a single argument between anybody about anything.




I don't imagine that will change as the week progresses. Today's afternoon run will be our first, followed by the Invitational Dress, which is predicted to have an audience of about 30. I have very little responsibility in this production, which may mean I'm in for a lot of fun. Stay tuned.

Hugh Leonard

1926-2009

Leonard achieved great success as a playwright, adapter, and columnist. He provided the BBC with several teleplays of classics such as Nickolas Nickleby and Great Expectations, but found greater fame writing for the stage. The Au Pair Man was his Broadway debut, for which he won a Tony nomination in 1973, though the show was a flop running only 37 performances (its stars were Charles Durning and Julie Harris, who received one of her ten Tony nominations for her role).

He had greater success with his 1978 memory play, Da, which won the Tony as best play, and was turned into a film starring Martin Sheen and the show's undisputed star, Bernard Hughes. (I wrote about seeing the production here). He achieved yet another Tony nod for his 1980 play, A Life.

Leonard wrote a weekly newspaper column for which he became known as the Curmudgeon. He wrote of his experience working as an extra on Olivier's Henry V; the Agincort scenes were shot in Ireland. "I can find myself drowning in a French swamp. We were paid four pounds a day, but if you had a horse, it paid eight." With withering wit but a thin skin, his quips were legion. When a particularly nasty critic was hospitalized, he commented "It was probably something he wrote." Along with contemporaries Brian Friel and Thomas Murphy, he helped create the Irish Dramatic Movement of the 1960s and 70s, though he had little use for his colleagues. "An Irish Literary Movement," he once wrote, "is when two Irish playwrights are on speaking terms." His plays seemed more accessible than those of his contemporaries, and were regarded as shallow by the Irish arts world. Ireland, he once said, was "a country full of genius, but with absolutely no talent."

Leonard died last week at the age of 82.

My Favorite Valentine

In honor of the day, allow me to share a clip of my favorite version of one of my favorite songs. It accompanies one of my favorite movies of all time, one which I feel is under appreciated. Psychologically menacing, emotionally complex, beautifully photographed, thrillingly acted by Damon, Paltrow, Law, Blanchette, and Hoffman, exceptionally written (and among all that, sexy), please accept "My Funny Valentine" from The Talented Mr. Ripley, as my gift to you.

Friday Dance Party: Couples Skate

This weekend includes Friday the 13th and Valentine's Day, so in an attempt to honor both, please enjoy this week's Dance Party, a tribute to unorthodox, sometimes horrifying, couples. Yes, I know it's just a bunch of clips set to music, with no dance whatsoever, but when has that ever stopped me?

Happy V-Day.

Blog Birthday, and the Hayzies

These pages are celebrating two years online today, so I've looked back a bit at some of the items I felt the need to write about. Well, I started to look back, then decided no good could come of such navel gazing (I do enough of that already). Hidden amongst the obits, the personal trials of the actor's life, the remembrances of things past, and my personal reactions to the various shows I attend as an audience member, I also noticed that I never finished my loooooong project of converting my vinyl recordings to digital files. I wrote ad nauseum about my collection, but never completed the task. I have a hundred or so albums cut by various artists which interested me, all of which still sit on my closet floor gathering dust. I am determined, therefore, to finish the task I gave myself many months ago. As soon as I complete the current run, I'll have a lot of free time (read: unemployed again), and will tackle this last portion of my collection.

You'll want to stay tuned for those riveting entries.



Another thing I noticed when checking my old archives was the fact that the week this blog was birthed, I wrote about the Helen Hayes award nominations (they had just been announced). Not coincidentally, this year's nominees were announced earlier this week.


The most striking aspect of this year's group is the rather lop-sided domination of Signature Theatre, with a whopping 39 nods. I'm not in a position to determine if all those scads of nominations were deserved, as I didn't see all of the shows in question, but I saw a few. I'm pleased that both the leads in Kiss of the Spider Woman were mentioned, as I thoroughly enjoyed their work. And David Margulies was a sprightly hoot as the grandfather in The Happy Time, but I wish the Hayzies had also nominated Michael Minarik, whose role was the pivotal one, and who gave a very strong showing (I wrote about it here.) I suppose the nominations of Chita Rivera and George Hearn were given; the Hayes folks have a long history of celebrating the performances of actors whose names they recognize. And as for Les Miz, well, I enjoyed the show, despite personally disliking the material, and Signature's production will probably win in their categories.

I was glad Arena's Next to Normal was recognized, though I'm not quite sure why it was placed in the "nonresident" category. It's true the show was cast completely with out of town actors, but that's nothing new at Arena, and though most of the cast were in the original NY production, two were not, and the authors themselves reworked part of their show for the Arena staging. Perhaps this particular production moved on to another theatre of which I am unaware...Anyway, I hope J. Robert Spencer, who played the father figure, wins in his category.























Of the other productions I saw, I agree that both Major Barbara and Twelfth Night were stunners at The Shakespeare Theatre, though I wish Veanne Cox had been mentioned for her luscious Lady Olivia. I also think one or two more of the cast of History Boys at Studio should have made the cut.

I suppose my biggest surprise is the explosion in the newish "Most Outstanding Ensemble" category. There are a whopping 18 nominees, six for musicals and twelve for plays. I'm happy that Olney's Rabbit Hole made the list, though my friend Deborah Hazlett deserved a singular nom for the depth of her performance, which was duly praised all over town. Yes, I know, she's my friend and all that, but I've already established the fact that my friends are always the best things in their shows, haven't I? At any rate, I have a hunch that Olney seems a little old hat for the Hayzies, and they rarely treat the old warhorse with much critical respect, even when Olney's productions deserve it.

Ah, well. Nobody is ever perfectly happy with awards of this kind, and the DC community is busy blogging away about the oversights and omissions. Happens every year, as I can attest since I wrote about the nominations two years ago in the first week of this site. We'll have to wait until awards night to see how it all plays out.

The Buchanans of Llanview

One Life to Live fans are reeling with the double loss of two long-time Buchanan cowboys. Phil Carey, who played Texas tycoon Asa Buchanan for over 20 years on the show, died last week from lung cancer. His death comes on the heals of that of Clint Ritchie, who played eldest son Clint Buchanan during the same period. Though both actors had left the show (another actor currently plays the role of "Clint" and the role of "Asa" died months ago), they left an indelible mark on the canvas of the program. Robert S. Woods, who plays younger brother Beau, remains with the show.

Frankly, I was never a fan of One Life to Live, though I don't doubt it when others proclaim the long-time star of the show, Erica Slezak, to be the best actress currently in daytime (she has six Emmys to prove it, more than any other actress in soaps).

The Buchanan clan was introduced to the show's landscape in the early 1980s as a direct rip-off of prime time's smash at the time, Dallas. Like JR Ewing, Asa Buchanan was a modern Texas oilman with questionable ethics and a killer bedside manner. His eldest son Clint became entangled with the show's heroine and remained central to the action for decades.

(If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the Dallas creators should be blushing with pride, as several other soaps of the period introduced similar characters. "Cal Stricklin" was a knock-off character over on As the World Turns, and "HB Lewis" brought his two sons with him from Oklahoma to Guiding Light, where the brothers remain major players today).

Anyway, in honor of the Buchanan boys of One Life to Live, giddyup.

Phil Carey (Asa Buchanan), 1925-2009

Clint Ritchie (Clint Buchanan), 1938-2009

R&G on the move

I returned to North Carolina to rejoin rehearsals for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and found that the cast, particularly the three leads, had been working hard. The complicated wordplay is making more sense now, and it's obvious these guys have been doing lots of homework. There are whole scenes in which they are off book, which motivated me to get on the stick and accomplish the same. I have very little dialogue in this piece, and it does not look quite right for me to be carrying around the script while others with dramatically more to learn, are not.

We've had a few days off, and I am now ready to attack the piece free-handed. Tonight, we move into the theatre, with about a week to go before the first audience shows up. (This is earlier than usual for this group). I know I'm glad to be out of the depressive surroundings of the rehearsal hall, located in a run-down industrial complex along the poluted river. The room had a stuffy quality which prohibited both creativity and breathing. But it's not unusual, even for theatre companies with far more resources than this, to put a lot of those resources toward their playing space and their administrative offices, and to ignore the one area with which they cannot do without: a place to rehearse.

But for now, who cares? On we go...